Strapless brassiere



March 31, 1970 K. EVERS STRAPLESS BRASSIERE Filed June 16. 1967 United States Patent US. Cl. 128463 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A contact web is provided below each cup of a brassiere and arranged directly to contact the chest.

This invention relates to a strapless brassiere, which comprises two cups for carrying the breasts and an extension at the lower edge of the cups.

The known strapless brassieres which are closed at the rear have the disadvantage that they are not firmly supported because the band which carries the cups for the breasts is too soft and the breasts cannot be shaped. For this purpose, corsets have been disclosed but they must have stiffeners in front, particularly when the corset is to be worn with a garment which has a low neckline at the rear. These stitfeners considerably reduce the freedom of movement and sometimes even the free and unhindered breathing of the wearer. In spite of this inconvenience involved in a corset, the known vacuum cups have not been successful. These are provided along their lower rim with narrow fixing strips, which are provided with an adhesive tape, which has a cover that must be removed when the fixing strip is to be adhered to the body of the wearer. It has been found that the adhesion of the fixing strips is inadequate and only temporary.

It is an object of the invention to provide a strapless brassiere which is light in weight, convenient and completely concealed by the outer garment and which can easily be manufactured and ensures a satisfactory, perfect support.

This object is accomplished by the invention in a brassiere of the kind defined first hereinbefore in that a contact web is provided below each cup and arranged directly to contact the chest. In the strapless brassiere according to the invention, the static friction between the contact web and the skin of the wearer is utilized. The contact web is disposed below the cup in an extension of a normal strapless brassiere or in a band, which is preferably 2-3 centimeters wide and provided at the lower edge of the cups. The contact web has preferably no firm connection to the normal brassiere or to the hand. To this end, the contact web may be guided in loops provided on the brassiere or on the band. When the brassiere according to the invention is worn, the brassiere or the band produces a tangential tensile force, which urges the contact web against the chest. The pressure applied gives rise to static friction. The teaching of the invention to secure the contact web to the inside of a band or of a normal brassiere is given only for practical reasons. The advantages of the strapless brassiere according to the invention can also be obtained if the contact web is simply inserted between the band or the normal brassiere and the chest. During a movement of the chest, the lower edge of the contact web urged against the skin will always yield upwardly and just as an ear of grain will not permit of a downward movement. The upward movement of the contact web is limited by the breast itself.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the contact web constitutes a supporting lever, which is held between the breast and the chest so that a static friction is obtained between the skin of the chest and the supporting lever at the contact web and a leverage is obtained between each breast and the supporting lever.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the supporting lever is held against the chest by a band, which is applied over the lever and is movable independently of the supporting lever so that differential motive forces in different regions of the skin cannot eliminate the static friction between the supporting lever and the skin.

The invention eliminates the long-standing prejudice that the cups cannot be held on the body only by static friction. The inventor had also to free himself from the opinion which prevailed in the art that the cups must be positively connected to a holder whereas this is even detrimental to a satisfactory support of a strapless brassiere. As each cup and the band are independently movable, the movements of the wearer will not eliminate the static friction between the supporting lever and the skin of the chest. According to the invention, the supporting lever can freely follow the contacting region of the skin during all movements of the wearer. The same applies to the band. As a result, the static friction between the supporting lever and the skin of the chest cannot be eliminated by differential motive forces in different regions of the skin. If a bosom rests in the cups of the supporting lever, the weight of the bosom will load the supporting lever and will apply a lever pressure to the lower edge of said lever, namely, the contact web, so that a contact pressure is applied to the breast and the chest. The leverage and the contact pressure are promoted by the static friction between the contact web of the supporting lever and the skin of the chest. When the wearer is at rest, the cups and their supporting levers are readily held between the breast and the chest.

To ensure that the cups provided with a supporting lever will be held in position also when the wearer is moving, the supporting lever may consist of a slip-in member, which holds the cup at the chest in the desired height by means of a band or a loop provided in a garment. The slip-in anchoring of the cups may be effected in the garment put on over them, e.g., a shirt, blouse, dress, bathing suit, or in a textile band having elastic end portions connectable by a button and buttonhole. Alternatively, the slip-in cups according to the invention may be anchored by stitching, e.g., at the side seams, center seams, darts, appliqus of the garment or at an inner lining or fashionable inside-outside quilted seams. With ready-made garments in standard sizes, the manufacturer may provide suitable means in the inside of the garment. The wearer may also provide the garments subsequently with such anchoring means.

The fabric of the garment which is worn over the brassiere produces an additional contact pressure (case dress) so that the cooperating forces which are due to the weight, the leverage and the contact pressure improve the shaping and supporting functions of the brassiere.

The half-cups according to the invention, which are provided with a supporting lever, may be made from plastics material which is agreeable to the tissue and which may be covered with textile fabrics or is lined at least on the side facing the body preferably with textile fabrics. Materials other than plastics materials, such as gold or other noble metals, are also suitable. Style considerations may be complied with by the selection of the color of the cups, e.g., flesh color, tan etc. to brocade.

The band may be made from textile fabric, stretch fabric etc. It may be secured to the cups by stitching.

Within the scope of the invention, the strapless brassiere may be provided with a cup and a contact web which are connected only by the brassiere as such but are not integral.

It is a special advantage of the brassiere according to the invention that the size of the bosom can be corrected in a simple manner by means of an inner lining of foamed rubber so that the upper part of the bosom is raised.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a front elevation showing a cup of the brassiere according to the invention, and

FIG. 2 is a side elevation showing the cup.

FIG. 1 shows a half-cup 1, which is made from a shaperetaining material, which is agreeable to the tissue. The cup is provided in the central portion of its lower edge with a supporting lever 2, which contacts the chest. In addition to the supporting lever 2, the half-cup 1 is provided at its lower edge with two lateral clips 3, 4. A textile band provided with rubberized end portions for connection by buttons and buttonholes to side seams of the garment holds the half-cup 1 on the body in the desired height when the half-cup is connected to the band 5 with the aid of the supporting lever 2 and of the clips 3, 4.

FIG. 2 shows how the cups according to the invention cause the weight of the breasts acting in the direction of the arrow 6 to produce a leverage and a contact pressure on the breast and the chest of the wearer, as is indicated by the arrow 7. The cups and/or the supporting levers and/or the clips may be formed with through openings for ventilation. Only one of said openings is indicated at 8 in FIG. 2 for the sake of simplicity.

Within the scope of the invention, cups made from a form-retaining material, which is agreeable to the tissue may be provided at their lower edge with a supporting lever, which contacts the chest and is designed as a slip-in member, and such cups may be embedded in a known brassiere so that the supporting lever protrudes below the brassiere and contacts the chest. In this embodiment the known brassiere serves for holding the cups in the desired height on the chest.

It is another advantage of the invention that the brassiere can be closed in front whereas all known brassieres must be closed on the back, which is difiicult.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the fastener is adjustable so that the brassiere may be worn as a loose or tight fit, depending on the preference of the wearer and the event she will attend.

What is claimed is:

1. A strapless brassiere comprising: two cups for carrying the breasts of the wearer, and extension means serving as a supporting lever provided at the lower central region of each cup, the extension means being shaped and positioned so that the weight of each breast acts on its associated cup and extension means to maintain the cup in its supporting position.

2. The brassiere as recited in claim 1, wherein the weight of each breast serves to maintain contact between the chest of the wearer and each extension means, and wherein each extension means is held fixed by static friction.

3. The brassiere as recited in claim 2, and further comprising a band applied over the extension means, movable independently thereof, and serving to hold the extension means against the chest of the wearer so that differential motive forces in diverse regions of the skin are prevented from eliminating the static friction between the supporting lever and the skin.

4. The brassiere defined in claim 1, wherein each extension means has blunt profiled edges at its top and bottom regions.

5. A bassiere according to claim 1, wherein each cup is a shaping inner cup, preferably a half-cup, and is inserted into respective outer cups.

6. A brassiere according to claim 1, wherein each cup is provided at its lower edge with two lateral clips, which clips are adapted to be applied over a band encircling the wearer or slipped into loops provided in a garment worn by the wearer.

7. A brassiere according to claim 1, wherein each cup is a half-cup and wherein the curved upper edge of each half-cup terminates on the outside of the breast on a higher level than on the inside of the breast.

8. A brassiere according to claim 1, wherein each cup is of a form-retaining material agreeable to the tissue.

9. A brassiere according to claim -8, wherein each cup is worn in association with a known non-form-retaining brassiere.

10. The brassiere of claim 1, wherein each extension means meets its associated cup in an acute angle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,741,898 12/1929 Woltstern 128-488 2,391,417 12/1945 Hill 128463 2,621,328 12/1952 Duchnofskey 128463 ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 128477 

